Diaz to Burgess: Keeping horse unit a priority

Seattle Police Chief John Diaz has told City Councilman Tim Burgess that maintaining the Mounted Patrol Unit – which could be eliminated because of a lack of funding – would be consistent with departmental goals to combat crime.

photo by Casey McNerthney (seattlepi.com)

Burgess, head of the Council’s Public Safety panel and a former policeman, and the Council are at odds with a private foundation over continued funding for the Mounted Patrol Unit. The unit has five full-time equivalent employees and a total annual expense of $728,000, according to Burgess, manpower and money that could be better spent elsewhere, considering the unit ranks 36th out of 42 police priorities. In February the Seattle Police Foundation announced a fundraising campaign to save the Mounted Unit, and is dismayed that the Council appears ready to reject donations from them to help keep the horse patrol. Burgess has said the department needs to prioritize “first response services” and “proactive response services” by police who respond to 911 calls and those on Anti-Crime and other teams.

In a Thursday e-mail to Burgess, obtained by the seattlepi.com, Diaz said “I have consistently talked about our mission in three areas – fighting crime, reducing fear of crime, and building safe communities…A restored horse patrol that is heavily subsidized by community support is not only cost efficient but can make an important contribution here since it accomplishes the goal of presence and high visibility. It also follows through on one of the department’s key strategies of being a listening organization and garnering feedback by way of face-to-face approaches, such as advisory councils, Neighborhood Viewpoint (knocking on doors), and living room conversations, in addition to more formal approaches involving quality assurance surveys and other online feedback.”

The City Council approved a $925 million operating budget for this year in November. Councilmembers had to deal with a $67 million deficit. And the Seattle Police Department has had to suspend a plan to add 100 additional officers through next year. The non-profit Seattle Police Foundation was created after the Sept. 11 attacks as a way for people from the city’s business community and other areas to help pay for law enforcement services and technology.